Envisioning BYU: BYU Speeches: Recent Episodes
BYU Speeches
For the past 200 years, leaders have testified of the divinely inspired mission of Brigham Young University. In this podcast, you’ll find the speeches, statements, prayers, and prophesies that form the foundation of BYU and raise our sights to envision all that BYU can become. Tune in to learn more about the past, present, and future of this unique university.
D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, delivered this address at the inauguration of BYU president C. Shane Reese on September 19, 2023. You can access the full talk here.
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Kevin J Worthen, president of Brigham Young University, delivered this university conference address on August 22, 2022. You can access the full talk here.
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Cecil O. Samuelson was president of Brigham Young University when this address was given at the BYU Annual University Conference on 26 August 2008. You can access the full talk here.
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This forum address was delivered by Elaine S. Marshall, a BYU professor of nursing, on May 25, 1998. You can access the full talk here.
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Cheryl Brown was a BYU professor of applied linguistics and an associate academic vice president when this devotional address was given on 28 January 1997. You can access the full talk here.
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We should develop a searching mind informed by the gospel of Christ so we can evaluate ideas and avoid following the Korihors of the world. Martha M. Peacock was an associate professor of art history at BYU when this devotional address was given on 21 May 1996. You can access the full talk here.
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This is an excerpt of a BYU university conference address delivered by Rex E. Lee, president of BYU, on August 27, 1990. View the complete talk here.
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Kate L. Kirkham was an associate professor of organizational behavior at Brigham Young University when this devotional address was given on 19 May 1987. You can access the full talk here.
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This is an excerpt of a devotional address delivered by Dallin H. Oaks, president of Brigham Young University, on February 12, 1974. You can access the full talk here.
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This is an excerpt of a faculty address delivered by Ernest L. Wilkinson, president of Brigham Young University, on September 18, 1962. You can access the excerpt here.
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This is an excerpt of the inaugural address delivered by Franklin S. Harris, president of Brigham Young University, on October 17, 1921. You can access the full talk here.
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Dallin H. Oaks was serving as first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he delivered this address. As BYU approached its sesquicentennial, President Oaks and a number of BYU devotional speakers reflected on President Spencer W. Kimball’s challenge to “become a unique university in all of the world.” President Oaks’s counsel was born of long and deep observation of BYU and the American academy generally. He spoke of an experience in the 1970s when BYU broke with the educational establishment in order to assert eternal principles. He also challenged students to “dare to be different” from the world when the world does not follow the Lord’s way, emphasizing the principle that the second commandment (love of neighbor) does not come ahead of the first great commandment (love of God). You can access the full talk here.
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Clark G. Gilbert, serving as commissioner of the Church Educational System, published this essay on the fate of the religious university a few months after he gave a BYU devotional address that touched on the same topic. In both pieces, he reminded BYU to hold fast to its unique mission, as so many initially religious universities have failed to do. Elder Gilbert calls for “courageous leadership” at religiously aligned colleges and universities to maintain their religious identity. His is a clarion call not only to BYU but to all “religious universities and faith-oriented faculty to deepen their confidence in the power of religious strength identity,” which “is not only important to a religious community, but it strengthens the academy and society more generally.” Therefore, he concludes, “Do not hide your light under a bushel. . . . Dare to be different in ways that are true to your distinctive light.” You can access the full talk here.
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C. Shane Reese was BYU academic vice president when he delivered this address to faculty members, building on an admonition given to the university only months earlier by Elder David A. Bednar. Elder Bednar had challenged university leadership to take to heart President Spencer W. Kimball’s admonitions for BYU to remain unique as it pursued academic distinction in its second century. Focusing on what makes BYU unique, Vice President Reese stressed the importance of using gospel methodologies to address university problems, of honing research mentoring at the university, and of applying “mission-fit” criteria when making hiring decisions. You can access the full talk here.
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Kevin J Worthen was serving as president of the university when he delivered this address and introduced the BYU Statement on Belonging and the creation of the Office of Belonging. He reminded the campus community of Elder David A. Bednar’s invitation to hearken to President Spencer W. Kimball’s admonition to use “gospel methodology, concepts, and insights . . . to do what the world cannot do in its own frame of reference.” President Worthen explained how both the substance of the BYU Statement on Belonging and the process of arriving at it through counseling in councils draw on gospel methodology, concepts, and insights. He also reflected on President Kimball’s prophetic expectations for BYU to “remain a unique university in all the world.” You can access the full talk here.
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David A. Bednar was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he delivered this address and spoke of Joseph Smith’s promise that the work of the Lord will go forward. Elder Bednar encouraged BYU’s leaders to “look unto [the Savior] in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:36). He emphasized that looking without fear to God rather than to the world means heeding President Spencer W. Kimball’s repeated warnings to “resist anything that would rob BYU of its basic uniqueness in its second century” (“The Second Century of Brigham Young University”). Elder Bednar invited the campus community to remember and apply President Kimball’s counsel. You can access the full talk here.
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As president of Brigham Young University, Kevin J Worthen explained to faculty and staff how BYU offers a unique kind of education by linking “faith-based teaching and student-centered research.” Building on then Elder Dallin H. Oaks’s address “Challenges to the Mission of Brigham Young University”, given earlier that year, President Worthen articulated how BYU can achieve its “prophetically proclaimed destiny... in a way that is different from that by which other universities have achieved their greatness.” You can access the full talk here.
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Dallin H. Oaks was serving as chair of the executive committee of the BYU Board of Trustees and as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he delivered this address. He spoke of the challenges BYU faces in becoming a “great university of the Lord—not in the world’s way but in the Lord’s way.” This talk figured prominently in a speech given a few months later by President Kevin J Worthen, titled “BYU: A Unique Kind of Education.” You can access the full talk here.
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Spencer W. Kimball was president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he delivered this charge to new BYU president Jeffrey R. Holland. He repeated many key points from his address “The Second Century of Brigham Young University,” thus fixing his prophetic expectations about BYU’s mission even more deeply into the university. In one paragraph of particular note, President Kimball altered slightly the language from his second-century address, changing become unique to remain unique. You can access the full talk here.
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As Church commissioner of education during BYU’s centennial year (1975), Neal A. Maxwell wrote an article for the Ensign magazine explaining why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would have a university like BYU. In it he touched on many of the same themes President Spencer W. Kimball articulated in his address “The Second Century of Brigham Young University,” emphasizing the need for BYU to remain “deliberately different,” even unique, in “meeting its rendezvous with destiny.” This text has been excerpted. The talk can be accessed here.
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David O. McKay was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he authored this article. Elder McKay believed deeply in the value of Church schools, where students could study all subjects in the light of the gospel, deepen their testimonies, and develop noble character traits. He helped preserve Brigham Young University as an exception to the Church’s general policy of divesting itself of Church schools. Later, as Church president, he founded BYU–Hawaii and the Church College of New Zealand. You can access the full talk here.
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James R. Rasband was serving as academic vice president when he delivered this address. He situated his topic by observing how the restored gospel “rejects either-or choices in favor of both-and possibilities.” Note how instead of or, the restored gospel uses and in these dichotomies: “It is not faith or works but faith and works. It is not a choice between body or spirit but a recognition that both body and spirit constitute the soul of man.” Likewise BYU consistently straddles seeming contraries, such as learning by study and by faith. The faculty in BYU’s house of learning must negotiate tensions between these paired aspirations, each making legitimate and even compelling competing claims. The talk can be accessed here.
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John S. Tanner was serving as academic vice president when he delivered this address during the faculty session of university conference. He based his remarks on the Lord’s great revelation on education—Doctrine and Covenants 88, or the Olive Leaf—which established the School of the Prophets. Tanner emphasized the connection between school and temple in Latter-day Saint history and doctrine, as well as the importance of all learning of all. He spoke of the need for learners and teachers to be worthy and to walk together as brothers and sisters bound by shared command- ments and covenants “in the bonds of love” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:133). The talk can be accessed here.
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Bonnie Brinton, a nationally recognized speech-language pathologist, was a professor in the BYU Department of Communication Disorders and dean of BYU Graduate Studies when she delivered this address. Brinton spoke to the blessing of working at BYU, where scholars “can use information gained through spiritual means at the same time that [they are] observing and testing the phenomena in the world around [them].” She related this ability to be “bilingual”—as President Spencer W. Kimball called it in his address “The Second Century of Brigham Young University”—to the anableps, a fish that can see simultaneously what is above and below the waterline. You can access the talk here.
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Susan W. Tanner was serving as the Young Women general president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was serving on the BYU Board of Trustees when she delivered this address. She encouraged the BYU campus community to learn by heart, a rarely discussed aspect of one of BYU’s aims—lifelong learning. Sister Tanner emphasized that when an individual learns by heart, the truths become internalized and can then lift, inspire, and change the heart. You can access the talk here.
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Kristine Hansen was a professor of English and associate dean of Honors and General Education when she delivered this inspiring devotional on BYU’s aims. She reflected deeply and lucidly on each aim, which she compared to facets of a towering mountain, ultimately encouraging faculty, staff, and students to unite in their efforts to live the aims and ascend together as they help BYU fulfill its divine destiny. Although her remarks are primarily addressed to students, they can and should be internalized by all who come to work, study, or serve at the university. You can access the talk here.
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Bruce C. Hafen was provost of Brigham Young University when he delivered this address. He spoke first about BYU as a distinctive institution that has serious dual allegiances to a “red world” of academics and a “blue world” of the Church. He then explored the challenges and blessings “of BYU’s exciting life in the land of the purple overlap”, where people take seriously both halves of the divine injunction to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith”.
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Boyd K. Packer was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he delivered this address explaining how the BYU Board of Trustees makes decisions in unity. He also discussed threats on the horizon facing BYU and other religiously affiliated universities. Elder Packer spoke encouragingly of BYU’s future: in a field of predominantly secular universities, BYU can stand out by using the catalyst of the Spirit to blend academic and spiritual pursuits. You can access the talk here.
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Dallin H. Oaks was president of Brigham Young University when he delivered this seminal address to university employees. He discussed the vision of education set forth by the Lord and prophets in such revelations as the Olive Leaf, found in Doc- trine and Covenants 88, and President Spencer W. Kimball’s revelatory address “The Second Century of Brigham Young University.” President Oaks then elaborated on the principles that BYU must adhere to in order to real- ize such a future. Referring to President Kimball’s words, President Oaks asked and then answered the question “How are we to achieve that prophetic destiny as ‘the fully anointed university of the Lord’?”. You can access the talk here.
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Justin Collings, associate dean and professor in the BYU Law School, delivered this devotional address on February 1, 2022. Collings encouraged BYU students to seek holiness, learning, rev- elation, the best gifts, Christlike exemplars, and, above all, the Savior Himself. Collings’s devotional touches on many of the themes in Envi- sioning BYU. As such, it provides a fitting preface for this volume as well as a primer for all the volumes in the series. You can access the talk here.
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Becoming BYU means balancing scholarship and discipleship, building covenant communities, and having the courage to be different. C. Shane Reese, president of Brigham Young University, delivered this address at his inauguration on September 19, 2023. You can access the talk here.
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President Russell M. Nelson, an apostle at the time that he gave these touching remarks, recounted in this talk how the gospel had “provided the under-girding foundation” for his remarkable educational journey. His journey had taught him, among other things, that “all truth is part of the everlasting gospel” and that “when the laws of God are obeyed, wanted blessings will always result, not just maybe or sometimes.” President Nelson’s sterling example reminds us that we are blessed as we become disciples in the disciplines. Indeed, the Lord expects all of His people to be consecrated covenant keepers who are following the covenant path, no matter their worldly occupation. Access his remarks here.
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C. Terry Warner was a BYU professor of philosophy when this devotional address was given on November 11, 2008.
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John S. Tanner was academic vice president when this address was delivered at the BYU Annual University Conference faculty session on August 26, 2008. You can access the talk here.
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John S. Tanner was academic vice president when this address was delivered at the BYU University Conference faculty session on August 28, 2007. You can access the talk here.
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BYU has weathered much in the struggle to determine its mission of blending the sacred and secular—which our students, like snow-white birds, need to fly. Boyd K. Packer was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this BYU University Conference address was given on 29 August 1995. Access the talk here.
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Bruce C. Hafen was the provost of Brigham Young University when this address was delivered at the BYU Annual University Conference on August 25, 1992. Access the talk here.
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Jeffrey R. Holland was president of Brigham Young University when this devotional address was given on September 10, 1985.
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Featuring excerpts from the dedicatory prayers given by Joseph Fielding Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the Provo Utah Temple (February 9, 1972) and by Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, for the Provo City Center Temple on March 20, 2016. Access them here.
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Spencer W. Kimball was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a member of the BYU Board of Trustees when he delivered this address to BYU faculty and staff on September 12, 1967.
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Zina P. Young Williams Card, ladies matron of Brigham Young Academy, recorded these words in her personal papers: “Short Reminiscent Sketches of Karl G. Maeser,” unpublished typescript, undated.
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Karl G. Maeser was completing his time as principal of the Brigham Young Academy when he gave this address on 4 January 1892. Access the talk here.
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This is an excerpt of a discourse delivered by John Taylor, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on April 13, 1879, in Ephraim, Utah. Access the excerpt here.
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Elder Holland looks at where BYU is now and offers counsel about reaching for the university’s prophetic future. Access the talk here.
Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, delivered this university conference address on August 23, 2021.
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Though Elder Hafen was particularly addressing religious educators when he gave this speech, he chose to focus on the broader history and mission of BYU. Elder Hafen traced the history of why prophets have chosen to preserve a few Latter-day Saint colleges and universities—such as BYU and its sister institutions—in which religion can be integrated across the entire campus, rather than opt exclusively for the much less expensive and simpler model of Latter-day Saint institutes, where the faith is taught next door to secular universities. The history Elder Hafen recounted illustrates both the problems and promises of teaching and learning at a fully integrated Latter-day Saint university such as BYU.
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In this university conference address, President Kevin J Worthen captured the essence of BYU’s mission and aims in a memorable two-word phrase:
“inspiring learning.” The idea of inspiring learning quickly spread across campus, guiding educational initiatives and enabling student learning in new and expansive ways.
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The Aims of a BYU Education builds upon the Mission of Brigham Young University. Focusing on student outcomes, it attempts to articulate the desired effect of a BYU education in the lives of students. The document appeared just as higher education was undergoing a fundamental paradigm shift from a “teaching paradigm” to a “learning paradigm.” The aims prepared the university to translate its educational aspirations into learning outcomes, as would soon be required by its accrediting bodies. The sections were purposefully ordered “to envelop BYU’s intellectual aims within a more complete, even eternal, perspective that begins with spiritual knowledge and ends with knowledge applied to the practical tasks of living and serving.” Access the text here.
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When President Jeffrey R. Holland began his administration, the university did not have a formal mission statement. It was felt that BYU needed to set forth its mission publicly, clearly, succinctly, and boldly. President Holland briefly discussed writing that statement in a BYU devotional in 1981. He said that he “tried to read almost everything that had been said about BYU and then attempted to reduce that down to a single statement . . . as to why BYU exists.” He then drafted a lofty, eloquent mission statement that, with very little modification, was endorsed by the board and adopted by the university. It has guided and inspired BYU for more than four decades. Access the mission statement here.
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Spencer W. Kimball was president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he gave this seminal address at the Founders Day commemoration on October 10, 1975—almost a hundred years to the day after the university’s founding. Speaking prophetically, President Kimball envisioned a remarkable destiny for BYU in its second century. His talk drew upon his visionary 1967 speech “Education for Eternity”; it also became the basis for his inaugural charge to Jeffrey R. Holland in 1980. This speech was unique as a major address by a president of the Church in that it was entirely focused on BYU’s mission. Its soaring expectations and sobering admonitions have guided the pursuit of excellence at BYU for nearly half a century. It has become a foundational discourse for the university, much as “The Charted Course of the Church in Education” (pages 23–41) has for the Church Educational System. Access the talk here.
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Concerned about rising secularism in Church education, J. Reuben Clark Jr., first counselor in the First Presidency, gave this address to Church seminary and institute leaders at the BYU summer school in Aspen Grove. It has been called “the most influential address to seminary and institute teachers in the history of Church education.” While President Clark focused on seminary and institute teachers, the talk also implied the university’s need to hire Latter-day Saint faculty in all disciplines who were fully converted, for “our Church schools cannot be manned by unconverted, untesti- monied teachers.” President Packer admonished BYU faculty that “The Charted Course” “should be read by every one of you every year. It is insightful; it is profound; it is prophetic; it is scripture.” So it is included among BYU’s founding documents even though its focus is on seminaries and institute teachers. Access the talk here.
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This address was delivered at Brigham Young Academy’s first Founders Day exercises. President Maeser recounted how Brigham Young Academy began with the revelation to Brigham Young of “the necessity for the establishment of a new kind of educational institution for Zion” (page 19). The new educational system was not merely to dupli- cate existing models, for “following . . . in the old
grooves would simply lead to the same results” (page 20). Brigham Young Academy was to be unique. At BYA “neither the alphabet nor the multiplication tables should be taught without the Spirit of God” (page 20). “The spirit of the latter-day work” was to go through the academy “like a golden thread” (page 21). Karl G. Maeser served as president of Brigham Young Academy from 1876 to 1892. This speech was originally printed in Karl G. Maeser: A Biography by His Son by Reinhard Maeser (Provo: Brigham Young University, 1928), 128–32.
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Brigham Young’s famous founding charge to Karl G. Maeser—that he “ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God”—is well known. It is BYU’s prime directive. Maeser himself referred to the charge as the “one thing constant” and “the mainspring of all her labors” (“History of the Academy,” page 21).
The version here has been excerpted from Reinhard Maeser, Karl G. Maeser: A Biography by His Son (Provo: Brigham Young University, 1928), 76–80; the text has been modernized.
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Excerpts from Doctrine and Covenants 88, 90, and 93, 1832–1833
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The purpose of this preface is to explain the primary scriptural injunctions for education. It thus provides an introduction to this first volume of Envisioning BYU. It is also a personal credo, outlining views that have animated me over the years. This preface was originally delivered as a talk, titled “A Gospel Ground for Education: An Academic Credo,” to BYU graduate students at the Faith and Scholarship Symposium on February 16, 2005.
The Lord commands us to love Him with all our minds, giving us the gospel duty to seek and love learning and truth.
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